As I sit here and think of the things that I am thankful for, I came up with this list.
1.) For the Love of Family and Friends.
2.) Surviving Stage IV Rectal Cancer.
3.) Being able to find Clinical Trials that are Close to me.
4.) Working Daily at a Job that I find enjoyable at times.
5.) For those who gave their lives so we can enjoy Freedom.
Things have been good this week, still having minor urinary control problems; which seems to be more of a problem at night when I start to reach REM Status. This I will address on Monday when I go back to Karmanos for the work up on the 3rd Trial. I have also been thinking about Life cycles Ending and new Cycles starting. I sent an email to Dr. Heath about this, but as of this posting she has not responded, so this too shall be addressed.
Medically, this week has been filled with no visits to Dr. Steve or the Emergency Room. I have been coughing a little more with the feeling that there is something there to come up, but nothing does; except this morning I spit up some green phlegm, I wasn't surprised. I have a wheezing feeling in my right lung when I breath just right, so I know something is happening. The headaches are still present, some days a little more intense then others, but taking a couple of Tyonel helps for a little bit. Otherwise no other changes have happened medically.
Musically, I have found myself getting into organizing my collection of MP3's and Flac music that I have been collecting for quite a while, last time I counted I had about 63 years of music in my collection. It ranges from Dave Brubeck to Moby to Bob Marley, Metallica and bunch more artists. The Genres I cover are just about all of them, reggae, rock, folk, big band, new age and every one in between.
Well, I'll be ending this here. Enough about my giving thanks. I hope that yours has been safe and joyous.
26 November 2009
19 November 2009
9 Days Since Last Posting
OK, I just realised that it has been a while since I have posted and I do have a few things to discuss here. I have gotten then information on Clinical Trial #3 and it looks preeettyyy intense, depending on the Chemotherapy Drug given to me at the time of Infusion, will determine my schedule. Ok! I'm getting a head of myself a little here, backing up here a little bit. Trial #3 will consist of an oral drug and IV Infusion. The oral drug is already approved by the FDA for use, so the work up fortunately is going to be on November 30th and it will include the Physical, an Echo-cardiogram, then wrapping it up with a CT Scan; which means that I will be busy for a better part of the day. I should also find out when I will start this Trial on the the 30th, which will be good news, since I'm anxious to get started again.
I have been getting back into the work schedule and getting use to working a full week without any interruptions for the Clinical Trials. I had my 6 year anniversary on Wednesday with the Cable Company, who would believe it, I've been doing Technical Support for that long and have seen a lot of organizational changes along the way. Enough with this.
I've been busy with getting Transcripts from the Colleges and Universities that I've attended, so that I can prepare to go back to College to take up Networking and further my knowledge and career outlook. I am excited about going back after taking sometime off and getting myself employed by a company that has been able to provide me with a stable job, so it is time to get on with things and start looking at a way to better market my skill set and start getting away from the Technical Support end of the business. Don't get me wrong, do the job I love it at times and I also hate it at times. Sure there are corporate policies that are totally wacked, but working around them and daily office politics I enjoy being able to help people and I try to educate them a little along the way. Some calls are better then others.
For now, I'm ending this so that I can concentrate on other things for the day and find out more information on a few personal things that I have let go.
I have been getting back into the work schedule and getting use to working a full week without any interruptions for the Clinical Trials. I had my 6 year anniversary on Wednesday with the Cable Company, who would believe it, I've been doing Technical Support for that long and have seen a lot of organizational changes along the way. Enough with this.
I've been busy with getting Transcripts from the Colleges and Universities that I've attended, so that I can prepare to go back to College to take up Networking and further my knowledge and career outlook. I am excited about going back after taking sometime off and getting myself employed by a company that has been able to provide me with a stable job, so it is time to get on with things and start looking at a way to better market my skill set and start getting away from the Technical Support end of the business. Don't get me wrong, do the job I love it at times and I also hate it at times. Sure there are corporate policies that are totally wacked, but working around them and daily office politics I enjoy being able to help people and I try to educate them a little along the way. Some calls are better then others.
For now, I'm ending this so that I can concentrate on other things for the day and find out more information on a few personal things that I have let go.
10 November 2009
Treatments and More
Well, seeing how it has been over a month now since I typed anything here. Where to start?!?!? Well, October was a month of work, Clinical Trials, Visits with Dr. Heath, PET Scan, CT Scans and sleeping.
The days slipped away in a blurred haze of confusion and wonderment. With bills coming in from Karmanos, I had to address the issue of why they had not been redirected to the appropriate Study Pharmacom to pay and now these have been taken care of. More time spent on the phone getting my Health Insurance Provider to acknowledge why a bill for Dr. Fuerquer, Flower Hospital Cancer Center Radiology, was not paid, but the Bill for Jennifer was from March 2009. This was sent back for reprocessing, since the Representative realised that the mistake was on their end. Thankfully, I was able to keep myself focused and not loose my temper over this, since I've become a little more cynical towards Health Care and how screwed up it has become, but that is for another forum and not here.
The 2nd Clinical Trial that I started, I was fortunate enough to be able to continue into the 2nd Round, since the lesions had not grown that much and seemed to be stabilizing. PET Scan done, results looked good there, then another Infusion. CT Scan #2, results came back a little less then anticipated by me. The good news is that there is no New Leisons on my Lungs, YAY!!!! The bad news is the lesions have grown a little more, thus putting me in the 17% range and at 20% is when I would have been removed from the Study; so I decided to voluntarily remove myself from the Study since it wasn't showing positive progress.
I also readdressed the issue of me not having much control of urinating, so I tried the Condom Catheter, which was a good idea; but it just didn't work. Dr. Heath changed my Meds from Vesicare to Daetrol and this seems to be helping the control issue, except at night I'm still having some challenges with it and have been woke up with myself being flooded and the protection being loaded. More concentration on this will be given to prevention of flooding the towel that I sleep on and having to change my clothes in the middle of the night.
For now I am waiting to hear about the next Study and what I'll have to do in the way of Tests to get worked up and going with it.
The days slipped away in a blurred haze of confusion and wonderment. With bills coming in from Karmanos, I had to address the issue of why they had not been redirected to the appropriate Study Pharmacom to pay and now these have been taken care of. More time spent on the phone getting my Health Insurance Provider to acknowledge why a bill for Dr. Fuerquer, Flower Hospital Cancer Center Radiology, was not paid, but the Bill for Jennifer was from March 2009. This was sent back for reprocessing, since the Representative realised that the mistake was on their end. Thankfully, I was able to keep myself focused and not loose my temper over this, since I've become a little more cynical towards Health Care and how screwed up it has become, but that is for another forum and not here.
The 2nd Clinical Trial that I started, I was fortunate enough to be able to continue into the 2nd Round, since the lesions had not grown that much and seemed to be stabilizing. PET Scan done, results looked good there, then another Infusion. CT Scan #2, results came back a little less then anticipated by me. The good news is that there is no New Leisons on my Lungs, YAY!!!! The bad news is the lesions have grown a little more, thus putting me in the 17% range and at 20% is when I would have been removed from the Study; so I decided to voluntarily remove myself from the Study since it wasn't showing positive progress.
I also readdressed the issue of me not having much control of urinating, so I tried the Condom Catheter, which was a good idea; but it just didn't work. Dr. Heath changed my Meds from Vesicare to Daetrol and this seems to be helping the control issue, except at night I'm still having some challenges with it and have been woke up with myself being flooded and the protection being loaded. More concentration on this will be given to prevention of flooding the towel that I sleep on and having to change my clothes in the middle of the night.
For now I am waiting to hear about the next Study and what I'll have to do in the way of Tests to get worked up and going with it.
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